Geneva

Bonjour

Before I tell y'all about Geneva I just have a one thing to say about this week in Madrid.

I've been trying to do some sort of community service while in Spain (as I talked about last week). I finally got set up by the non-profit I've been talking to in a Residencia = old folks home. It's called La Paz, and it's in a beautiful old monastery -type building, so definitely a little different than your typical residencia in the States. So if I talk about La Paz in the future you'll know what I'm referring to.

Okay Geneva.

We actually did not stay in Geneva, but rather Coppet, a little town about ten minutes outside of the city. Two friends from Madrid and I went to see Sarah Robins (my friend from High School, for anyone who doesn't know her), and stayed at her house.

Switzerland was cold, but we didn't let that stop us. We arrived on Friday we took the Train to Nyon (Pictures 1 and 2). It was sunny all day which was lucky, because weather.com called for rain. We explored this little town, then met up with Sarah and accidentally took the train to Morges (instead of Rolle where we were going to meet her mom). No a bad mistake though, because in Morges we got to walk up to Lake Geneva. The clouds had completely cleared and we could see the Alps across from us, right next to the water. (Picture 3)

The next day we were not so lucky with the weather. It was cold and rainy all day; nonetheless, we decided to take the train up to Saint Cergue. (picture 4)This town is up a little further in the mountains, and although we were freezing we took a mini-hike up to some "ruins" which did not actually exist. There wasn't much view, but it we got to hike up into that clouds which is always fun. (Picture 5). Also an added bonus of the temperature was that when Sarah and Daniel came to pick us up it started to snow (pictures 6 and 7). The day was capped off by finally going into Geneva and eating at a fondue restaurant Cafe du Soleil, which was amazing, and then going out to the their favorite bar, Seven.

Great trip all in all.

Adios

Brent

Spanish Lesson:

Everyone knows that dinero = money, but so do pasta and pavos (turkeys). For example to the other day my host brother said he just wanted pasta for Christmas, not any presents. He didn't mean Italian food.

Also to make a lot of money some people say "da mucho de comer" = "gives a lot for you to eat." I just thought it was interesting that the slang for money are two types of foods that are not very Spanish.

Spanish is also much more precise about discontent and content. Where we might just say "That stinks," or "That's cool" Spanish has a whole slew of expressions. Here are some examples:

• ¡Qué asco! = How revolting
• ¡Qué horror!
• ¡Qué malo! = How bad
• ¡Qué fatal!
• ¡Qué guay! = How cool
• ¡Qué molón! = How cool
• ¡Qué precioso! = How precious
• ¡Qué mono! = How cute

Descubrimiento = Invention. This word literally means discovery. So in Spanish, the steam engine wasn't created; rather, it was always out there just waiting to be found.

Descubrimiento =